Fish-cleaning apparatus

ABSTRACT

Tail-impaling pins on the bull ring of fish-cleaning mechanism hold fish to the periphery of the bull ring in moving them past cleaning implements located in positions spaced circumferentially around the bull ring. A parallel-link control maintains the belly-fin cutter in proper angular relationship to the bull ring and a more direct and simplified drive arrangement is provided for the rotary cleaning scrapers and brushes alongside the bull ring.

11] 3,7S5fid7 [451 Jan. 15, 11974 llnited States Patent [191.

Hogan et al.

2,166,939 7/1939 Christiansen.......i.......i.....i..... 17/59WISH-CLEANING APPARATUS Primary ExaminerRobert Peshock Att0rneyR0bert W.Beach Assignee:

[22] Filed:

ABSTRACT.

Related US. Application Data Division of Ser. No. 19,162, March 13,1970, Pat. No. 3,670,363.

Tail-impaling pins on the bull ring of fish-cleaning mechanism hold iish to the periphery of the bull ring in moving them past cleaningimplements located in positions spaced circumferentially around the bull[52] 1U.S. C1. 17/59 [51] A22c 25/14 int. ring. A parallel-link controlmaintains the belly-fin cutter in proper angular relationship to thebull rin g and a more direct and simplified drive arrangement isprovided for the rotary cleaning scrapers and brushes alongside the bullring.

[ 56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,456,287 7/1969 Oates et17/59 2 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures nunun I lrrllnmm II-WA r-u it ammo?PATENTEB JAN 1 5 i914 SHEET 10F 4 IF ISM-CLEANING APPARATUS Thisapplication is a division of our U.S. patent application Ser. No.19,162, filed Mar. 13, 1970, for Fish- Beheading and Cleaning Apparatus,resulting in U.S.

' Pat. No. 3,670,363. Fish-cleaning mechanism of a type generallysimilar to that incorporated in the present apparatus is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,542,196 and 3,456,287.

A principal object of the present invention is to improve the drivingand supporting arrangement for the cleaning wheels operating on fishcarried by the bull ring of the cleaning mechanism.

FIG. 1 is a plan of the fish-beheading and cleaning apparatus with partsbroken away.

FIG. 2 is an elevation showing a portion of the beheading mechanism andan end of the fish-cleaning mechanism, parts being broken away.

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the apparatus showing a side of the cleaningmechanism and an end of the fishbeheading mechanism.

FIG. 4 is a somewhat diagrammatic side elevation of the fish-cleaningmechanism, and FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic top perspective of the drivemechanism for the various cleaning elements of the cleaning mechanism.

The apparatus of the present invention is particularly well suited tothe cleaning of fish of moderate size, especially salmon.

The beheading mechanism 1 includes a feed table 2 carried by a frame 3for supplying round fish to be beheaded. Such fish are carried along thetable in a direction transversely of their lengths from right to left,as seen in FIGS. 1 and 3, by a plurality of parallel endless conveyorchains 4, 5 and 6, driven in unison.

Fish to be beheaded are moved along the beheading table 2 by the flights12 of the block chains 4, 5 and 6, and are held down firmly for thebeheading operation by holddowns 13. Such hold-downs circulate in anendless path along the lower stretch of which they are moved insynchronism with the movement of the conveyor chains 4, 5 and 6. Thehold-downs are spaced apart lengthwise of their orbit at locationscorresponding to the bays between the conveyor chain flights.

The construction of the mounting, drive and guide means for thehold-down mechanism is disclosed in U. S. Pat. Nos. 2,625,706 and2,625,708, and in parent patent application Ser. No. 19,162, mentionedabove, which may be referred to for structural details. In general eachholddown 13 is mounted on the end ofa post 14 guided for slidinglengthwise in guides 15. The fish are supported on their sides beneaththe hold-downs by three parallel rails 18 shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, whichare supported by posts reciprocable in guide sleeves 20 to enable theelevation of the rails to be adjusted.

The beheading knife 31 is rotatably mouhted on the shaft 32. Thehold-downs are propelled around their orbit by drive chains 33. From thebeheading station the beheaded but uneviscerated fish are transported bythe chains 4, 5 and 6 along the transfer table 34 to be dumped at itsdischarge end into the cleaning mechanism feed trough 35. The fish aremoved along the beheading table 2 and the transfer table 34 back first,so that each fish will slide from the discharge end of the transfertable into the cleaning mechanism feed trough 35 back first and bellyup. Each fish is then fed lengthwise, tail first, to the bull ring ofthe cleaning mechanism for evisceration.

' movable toward and away from each other to embrace opposite sides ofthe tail portion of the fish. Such tailreceiver is movable elevationallyin synchronism with rotation of fish tail-impaling pins on the bull ringto place and to hold the tail portion of the fish in the properrelationship to the bull ring tail-impaling pins so that they canpenetrate the tail portion of the fish to secure the fish to the bullring for the cleaning operation.

Feeding mechanism for moving the fish along the trough 35 to engagetheir tail portions with the tailreceiver and for elevating thetail-receiver to enable the fish to be securedon the bull ring is shownin U. S. Pat. Nos. 2,585,267, 2,630,208 and 2,680,876. The mechanism ofthe present invention is somewhat similar to that shown in thosepatents, but includes improved mechanism.

To move a fish tail first along the trough 35 pusher lugs 36 carried bya chain 37 are moved along a slot in the trough toward the fish-cleaningmechanism indicated generally at 38. A variable-speed hydraulic motor 39is connected to drive both the cleaning mechanism and the fish-beheadingmechanism at a speed synchronized with the remainder of the fish-canningline in which the beheading mechanism and the cleaning mechanism areincorporated, as disclosed in US. Pat. No. 3,456,289. By varying thespeed of such motor the fish supplied to the canning line from thebeheading and cleaning apparatus of the present invention can keep pacewith the remainder of the canning operation.

The drive mechanism for the fish-beheading mechanism and thefish-cleaning mechanism is shown particularly in FIGS. 1 and 2. Themotor 39 drives chains 40 and 41 in sequence to turn the main driveshaft 42 for the beheading mechanism. This shaft is connected by acoupling 43 to a second shaft section 44 that is mounted directly on thebeheading mechanism. Such shaft drives a cross shaft 45 extending underthe beheading table, as shown in FIG. 3 by bevel gearing 46 shown inFIG. 1.

The beheading knife shaft 32 is rotated by an upright drive shaft 47turned by bevel gearing 48 connecting it to cross shaft 45. Such uprightshaft in turn drives the beheading knife shaft 32 through bevel gearing49. Cross shaft 45 also drives the hold-down driving chains 33 throughsuccessive chains 50 and 51. To such chain drive a further chain 53,shown in FIG. 2, is connected to drive the chains 4, 5 and 6 of thetransfer table and the beheading table.

During the cleaning operation by the cleaning mechanism 38 the fish arecarried on the periphery of a bull ring 95 on which drive gears 54 aremounted. These gears are turned by pinions 55 mounted on shaft 56 asshown best in FIG. 1. This shaft is turned directly and continuously bychain 40 whenever the drive motor 39 is in operation. The speed ofrotation of the bull ring is controlled by regulating the speed of themotor 39.

Shaft 56 also powers mechanism for elevating the fish tail-receiver 35'in synchronism with rotation of the bull ring. Whenever shaft 56 isturning to drive the bull ring, it is also connected to drive the tailreceiver elevating mechanism. This latter mechanism is driven by aroller chain 57 connecting shaft 56 to a sprocket mounted on a sleeve59. Shaft 42 for driving the beheading table mechanism extends throughsleeve 59 and serves as a bearing support for it.

On sleeve 59 is mounted a disk cam 60, the periphery of which is engagedby a cam follower roller mounted on the end of an arm 62 to effectraising of the fish-tail receiver 35.

Floating on shaft 56, which is driven by chain 40, is a sleeve on whichis mounted the sprocket for driving chain 41 and a jaw-clutch part 67which is rotatively integral with such sprocket. The other part 68 ofsuch jaw clutch is shiftable axially along the sleeve toward and awayfrom jaw-clutch part 67 to engage and disengage the clutch parts. Theclutch part 68 is moved by swinging a shifter 69 which is moved manuallyby swinging handle 72.

By effecting engagement of the clutch part 68 with the clutch part 67 indifferent rotative relationships the relationship between the beheadingmechanism and the cleaning mechanism can be established. The beheadedend of the fish will alway be located in the same position transverselyof the transfer table 34 irrespective of the length of the fish, asshown in FIG. 1.

The fish-cleaning mechanism 38 is generally of the type shown in U. S.Pat. Nos. 1,542,196 and 3,456,287. The main component of such cleaningmechanism is the bull ring 95 on which the fish are carried past theseveral cleaning implements. As stated previously, the tail portion of afish is impaled by pins reciprocating axially of the bull ring whichdrag the fish around the bull ring orbit tail first. During movementaround such orbit the back and belly fins are cut from the beheadedfish, the belly is slit open, the sides of the fish are spread apart,the viscera are scraped out and the cavity is brushed clean.

While the variable-speed hydraulic motor 39 rotates the bull ring of thecleaning mechanism by the gears 55 on shaft 56 engaging the bull ringgears 54, it is preferred that the various cleaning implements bepowered separately by another hydraulic motor 96, shown in FIGS. 3 and4. This motor drives the main drive chain 97 which drives the mainimplement drive shaft 98 extending across the top of the cleaningmechanism and over the bull ring. From the main drive shaft 98 a drivechain 99 extends forward to drive a countershaft 100 as shown in FIG. 5.From this countershaft an elongated plate 101 shown in FIG. 4 issuspended to carry the belly fin cutter 102.

Cutter 102 is mounted on a cantilever swingable arm through which thebelly fin cutter shaft extends and is driven by chain 104 connected tocountershaft 100. The mounting plate 101 is swingable about the axis ofshaft 100, and the attitude of mounting arm 103 about its pivot 105 iscontrolled by a control link I06 extending generally parallel to thecutter-mounting plate 101. The upper end of such link is connected by apivot 107 to the frame of the machine, and the lower end of such link isconnected by a pivot 108 to the belly fin cuttermounting arm 103.

The belly fin cutter 102 is a circular rotary cutting disk rotated aboutan axis directed substantially radially of the bull ring 95. The face ofsuch disk will ride against the belly of a fish and the disk will bemoved toward and away from the bull ring depending upon the width of thefish. As the mounting arm is swung by engagement of the cutting diskwith the fish, the control link 106 will maintain the arm 103 in asubstantially radial attitude so that the plane of the cutting disk isheld substantially tangential to the belly of the fish whatever the fishwidth may be.

At the inner side of the bull ring substantially directly opposite thebelly fin cutter is a rotary tail cutoff disk 109, which is poweredrather directly by the implement drive motor 96. Spacedcircumferentially from the belly fin cutter 102 around the bull ringadjacent to its inner circumference is a back and dorsal fin cutting saw109 and adjacent to the outer circumference of the bull ring is abelly-slitting saw 110 mounted on the end of a cantilever arm 111. Thissaw is driven by a chain 112 connecting it to the main drive shaft 98,as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. Slitting of the fish belly by this sawenables the sides of the fish to be spread apart to enable rotaryeviscerating scrapers and cleaning brushes to enter the fish bodycavity.

The end of main drive shaft 98 remote from main drive chain 97 carries agear 113 meshing with a gear 114 on a second main drive shaft 115 toreverse the direction of shaft rotation. From such second main driveshaft an arm 116 depends, on the swinging end of which is mounted afirst rotary eviscerating scraper 117. Such scraper is rotated by drivechain 118 in a direction such that the portion ofits peripherycontacting the fish is moving in a direction opposite to the directionin which the fish is moved by the bull ring and scrapes toward thebeheaded end of the fish.

A first countershaft 119 and a second countershaft 120 are driven by achain 121 from the second main drive shaft 115. On the lower end of anarm 122 depending from countershaft 119 is carried a second rotaryeviscerating scraper 123, which is driven by chain 124. From shaft 120an arm 125 is suspended that carries a first rotary cleaning brush 126on its lower end, which is driven by chain 127. This cleaning brushengages the fish following the operation on it of the secondeviscerating scraper 123.

An arm 128 suspended from countershaft 120 carries an auxiliarycountershaft 129, from which a further support arm 130 depends. A secondrotary cleaning brush 131 is carried by the lower end of arm 130 and isrotated by a chain 132 turning shaft 129, which in turn drives chain133. This second cleaning brush completes the cleaning of the fishcavity so that after the fish has been carried past it by the bull ring95 the fish tail-impaling pins can be withdrawn to release the fish fromthe bull ring.

We claim:

1. In fish-cleaning mechanism including a bull ring for carrying fish tobe cleaned, a plurality of fishcleaning implements arranged around thebull ring, including a belly-slitting disk, a fin cutter ahead of thebelly-slitting disk circumferentially of the bull ring and rotarycavity-cleaning implements behind the bellyslitting diskcircumferentially of the bull ring, and a drive motor for suchimplements, the improvement comprising a belly-slitting disk shaftcarrying the bellyslitting disk, a main implement drive shaft, a chaindirectly connecting said main implement drive shaft and saidbelly-slitting disk shaft, a drive chain directly connecting the drivemotor and said main implement drive shaft, and connecting meansextending from said main implement drive shaft generally in onedirection to drive the fin cutter and generally in the oppositedirection to drive the cavity-cleaning implements.

2. In fish-cleaning mechanism including a bull ring and a plurality offish-cleaning implements arranged around the bull ring, including arotary belly-fin cutter located exteriorly of the bull ring, theimprovement pivotally connected to said second arm at-a location spacedfrom said first arm to control swinging of said second arm as said firstarm swings.

1. In fish-cleaning mechanism including a bull ring for carrying fish tobe cleaned, a plurality of fish-cleaning implements arranged around thebull ring, including a belly-slitting disk, a fin cutter ahead of thebelly-slitting disk circumferentially of the bull ring and rotarycavity-cleaning implements behind the belly-slitting diskcircumferentially of the bull ring, and a drive motor for suchimplements, the improvement comprising a belly-slitting disk shaftcarrying the belly-slitting disk, a main implement drive shaft, a chaindirectly connecting said main implement drive shaft and saidbelly-slitting disk shaft, a drive chain directly connecting the drivemotor and said main implement drive shaft, and connecting meansextending from said main implement drive shaft generally in onedirection to drive the fin cutter and generally in the oppositedirection to drive the cavity-cleaning implements.
 2. In fish-cleaningmechanism including a bull ring and a plurality of fish-cleaningimplements arranged around the bull ring, including a rotary belly-fincutter located exteriorly of the bull ring, the improvement comprising aswinging first arm supported for swinging of one end toward and awayfrom the bull ring, a second arm pivotally mounted on the swinging endof said first arm and carrying the belly-fin cutter, and a linkextending generally parallel to said swinging first arm and pivotallyconnected to said second arm at a location spaced from said first arm tocontrol swinging of said second arm as said first arm swings.